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The Philadelphia Daily News blogged last night and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that the N.H.L. is investigating whether the Fox Sports Pittsburgh television crew, the Penguins’ local rights-holder, intentionally or accidentally withheld evidence from video replay officials last Thursday of a play that was under review.

Here’s the play in question from late in the second period of that game in Pittsburgh, the aftermath of a shot by Simon Gagne. The angle at the end of this clip shows Penguins goalie Brent Johnson perhaps nudging the puck back over the line:

This angle was not made available to the in-arena replay booth and the N.H.L.’s Hockey Operations reviewers in Toronto until after they made their “no goal” decision. Their ruling was based on angles that they found inconclusive. Had the goal been awarded, it would have given the Flyers a 6-3 lead in a game they eventually won 7-4, so it did not effect the outcome of the game.

Still, league spokesman Gary Meagher told the Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi that the N.H.L. was “concerned and it is being addressed.” The league wants to determine how this occurred and whether it was an oversight or intentional. Frank Seravalli blogged in The Philadelphia Daily News, “The NHL has given no indication as to length of the investigation or what penalties may come of it,” and he quotes Meagher saying, “It’s a matter between the league, the Penguins and FSN that will be handled internally.”

It’s not the first time that angles indicating a different outcome than the one reached by the officials have been delayed. The most famous incident was in Game 2 of a first-round playoff series between the Sabres and Flyers in 2000. A shot by the Flyers’ John LeClair entered the net through the side, but it was not seen by officials on the ice or in the replay booth and the goal stood. But ESPN had an angle from inside the net that showed the puck traveling through the mesh. That angle was not available in the booth and ESPN eventually showed it a few minutes after play re-started. Here’s that ancient clip:

That was an embarrassing moment for the N.H.L., especially less than a year after the Sabres were victimized by a goal call in the 1999 Stanley Cup Final. That’s when Brett Hull’s Game 6 overtime winner was allowed even though replays later showed his skate in the goal crease when the puck was not, which at the time was prohibited.

The 2000 episode was not an intentional embargo of evidence by ESPN. That angle somehow fell through the cracks, bungled by everyone involved. This time, the N.H.L. wants to know if something sinister occurred, although this incident could very well be as innocent as the case in 2000.

Seravalli hits some accusatory notes in his Daily News blog post, writing, “It is not yet clear whether FSN Pittsburgh purposely excluded the angle or it was an unintentional oversight, though one Penguins announcer can be heard saying ‘we saved that one’ on the broadcast.” But it’s clear that when ex-Penguin Bob Errey comments in the clip, he isn’t celebrating a successful deception of the officials by his producer as much as expressing a mixture of nervous relief and perhaps mimicking what goaltender Johnson might be saying.

If the Penguins producer was trying to hide evidence of this play, he likely would not have shown it at all.

When the N.H.L.’s video replay system was created in the summer of 1991, one of the concerns raised by skeptics was that some local producers are employees of the club or, at least, employees of the club’s rights-holder. Potentially, they might not be neutral. After all, a team that makes the playoffs will have more games televised, providing more work for the crew of their telecasts. So some wondered about the possibility of cheating.

This hasn’t become much of an issue. Perhaps producers who might hide video evidence on behalf of the teams they cover are very good at it. But there are also a number of angles available to the replay officials independent of the what is shown on television, not to mention what the other team’s broadcasters might uncover. (On Thursday, the Flyers reportedly did not have any Comcast game cameras in Pittsburgh and took all their pictures from FSN). Additionally, most of the producers are professionals who want to show fans the true picture of the game, although it is naive to think some wouldn’t be sympathetic to their club’s cause.

To our knowledge, this is the first time the league has said it was investigating a rights-holder for possibly withholding video for replay. Considering this is the 18th year of the N.H.L.’s system, that’s a pretty good indication of how well the system works and of the integrity of those involved.

This case doesn’t seem to be more than a mistake of some sort. But it never hurts to be skeptical, if not suspicious

Metro Report: The Rangers and Devils go at it tonight at Madison Square Garden and, as Jeff Z. Klein mentioned in his Times article on the Blueshirts’ 3-1 victory on Saturday over the Bruins, the Devils represent the first opponent in 14 games that can be considered a strong opponent. None were more than two games over .500. The Rangers got 22 of a possible 28 points in that stretch.

Vinny Prospal will return to the Rangers lineup tonight and he’s likely to play with Marian Gaborik and Erik Christensen, who has recently been the hottest skater on Broadway. Christensen has three goals and four assists in his last six games. Brandon Dubinsky, who has 13 points over his past 13 games will likely play with Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan.

The Rangers trail New Jersey by 13 points but Devils Coach Jacques Lemaire had this to say this morning about why they’ve played so well lately (quoted by Tom Gulitti blogging in The Bergen Record): “Teamwork. Teamwork is the whole difference. They have a few guys that at a time were playing really hard and the other guys could do a little more and a little help on the ice does a lot. You get two guys working really hard on the ice and the other guys they don’t help at the right time, you’re not as effective. Now, they’re confident. They do these little plays. They’re playing well.”

Devils forward Travis Zajac, perhaps their best player in the 2-1 overtime win over Montreal on Saturday, took a shot on the ankle in the Devils’ morning skate today and had to leave for a while. Zajac told Tom Gulitti, blogging for The Bergen Record, “We came in and just rubbed it down quick and the pain went away. You get there and it gets numb for a second. Then, after it didn’t hurt much at all. I kind of looked like a wuss.”

Zajac has three goals, three assists in his last three games and has returned to the top line with captain Jamie Langenbrunner (who has named captain of the U.S. Olympic team yesterday) and Zach Parise.

The Islanders take on the Red Wings tonight at Nassau Coliseum and Detroit Coach Mike Babcock had some compliments for the Islanders after his team’s morning skate (quoted by Chris Botta on Islanderspointblank.com: “I really like what they’re doing here,” said Babcock, who is the Canadian Olympic coach. “The Islanders have a youthful group. The whole team looks like first round picks. They come at you hard, skate and don’t stop. They’ve looked real good lately.

“They’ve got some very talented kids in Tavares, Bailey and Okposo. As the three of them grow, they could be a really dynamic force.”

On the other hand, Botta writes, Islanders Coach Scott Gordon had little sympathy about the Wings’ lengthy injury list, “Anytime you can roll out Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom…” Clearly, he doesn’t want his team taking this banged-up foe lightly.

The Wings are getting healthy again, slowly. Dana Wakiji writes in The Detroit News that Johan Franzen is skating and feeling good, even though he’s not slated to return from his knee surgery until after the Olympic break. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson (bone bruise, left knee) could dress as soon as Thursday against Carolina. Tomas Holmstrom (broken foot) is at least three weeks away but Niklas Kronwall doesn’t seem to be progressing from his knee sprain and is scheduled for an ultrasound exam today.

With all that, it’s a miracle the Wings are only one point out of a playoff spot.

Skating Around: Alex Burrows, who had two more goals last night in the Canucks’ 3-2 loss to Nashville, accused referee Stephane Auger of targeting him with two late penalties that he said robbed his team of victory. Burrows said Auger told him he would get even for Burrows diving on Dec. 8 in Nashville, when Auger believed Burrows embellished an injury on a hit by the Predators’ Jarred Smithson. Auger gave Smithson a five-minute charging major and a game misconduct. Bob McKenzie has lots of details on his TSN blog and he writes that the situation “is going to get messy.”

Despite some conjecture, including Hockey Night In Canada’s weekly Hotstove segment, Thrashers General Manager Don Waddell said Monday he is not actively seeking to trade Ilya Kovalchuk. He told Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Our first priority still remains to sign him. That’s clear. I probably didn’t leave the door open enough at the beginning of the year because, obviously, I was hoping that this would be long done by now. We also have to protect the asset. He’s an asset to our franchise.” Waddell acknowledges a trade “still looms as an option, but it’s not my first choice.” Waddell said he and Kovalchuk’s agent Jay Grossman differ on how much the player should be paid. Most likely, it’s the difference between a large amount and a very large amount.

And finally, Dallas is in Philadelphia to play the Flyers and as the Stars team bus rolled past the Philadelphia Art Museum — famous as the scene of Sylvester Stallone’s sprint up the steps in the first “Rocky” — Coach Marc Crawford told the driver to stop. As one played the “Rocky” theme on his cell phone, the players began sprinting up the steps. They got back on the bus and went to practice where, Mike Heika wrote in The Dallas Morning News, “The Stars buzzed around the ice in their practice at the Penn Ice Rink, worked on going hard to the net and hummed a familiar tune throughout their workout.” Dallas has won once in their past 11 road games and the Flyers’ Dan Carcillo has probably been out pounding sides of beef.

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Slap Shot, the New York Times hockey blog, reports on the Rangers, the National Hockey League and anything that glides quickly across a frozen surface anywhere on the globe, from the snowy prairies of Saskatchewan to the frigid steppes of Russia and beyond, like, say, Phoenix.

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